San Diego  Students from three San Diego high schools will be eligible for a $40,000 scholarship for UC San Diego under a new program created by university Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, with 45 students being offered the inaugural awards.

The scholarships, worth $10,000-a-year for four years, will be given to qualifying seniors who are graduating from Gompers Preparatory Academy, The Preuss School UCSD and Lincoln High School.

The three schools are partners with the La Jolla university under a K-12 outreach and college preparation program that puts UCSD students on the campuses as tutors and mentors to high schoolers and offers other ways to support student success.

Daniela Valez, a 17-year-old Gompers’ senior, said the Chancellor’s Associates Scholars Program means she’ll be able to attend her top-choice school to study psychology.

Daniela, who is senior class vice president and works on the school’s yearbook, has a 3.98 GPA and was accepted to seven universities, including UC San Diego. But she wasn’t sure she could go because of the cost.

“What this scholarship has done is it is making my dream come true. It is helping me pursue my dream,” she said. “This is what I needed and I’m so grateful. It not only is for this year but assuring me four years.”

The money will mean the difference of attending or not attending a four-year college not only for Daniela but for many students, said Gompers Director Vincent Riveroll. Six seniors at his school qualified for the scholarship this year.

Ten students at Lincoln High and 29 students at Preuss also were offered the scholarships.

UCSD scholarships

Schools to benefit from the Chancellor’s Associates Scholars program.

• Gompers Preparatory Academy: a charter school in Chollas View, enrolls 950 low-income students from sixth through 12th grade.

• Lincoln High School: a San Diego Unified school in Lincoln Park with 1,800 students enrolled in four theme-based small schools.

• The Preuss School UCSD: a charter school with 825 students that opened in 1999 on the UCSD campus. Serves low-income students who want to become the first in their families to graduate from college.

“This is a game-changer for our students,” he said. “Many of them even though they were accepted still might not have been able to attend because of financial reasons. So this is a game-changer for our community, our parents and our students, to be given this type of support and opportunity for higher education.”

The pilot program is funded by a university donors group known as the Chancellor’s Associates. Donors, who include alumni, parents and others, contribute $2,500 annually to be used at the chancellor’s discretion for urgent needs and priorities.

Khosla announced the creation of the scholarship Wednesday night at a community reception. The chancellor said the program show’s the university’s commitment to the local community and to the goal of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

He said he’d like to expand the pilot program beyond UC San Diego’s partner schools to reach more students and to raise donations to support scholarships for students from low-income families.